Guerrillero Heroico
Photographer: Alberto Korda
Date: March 5, 1960
Location: Havana, Cuba
Alberto Korda photographed Ernesto 'Che' Guevara at a memorial service for victims of the La Coubre harbor explosion in Havana, Cuba, on March 5, 1960. Korda, who served as Fidel Castro's personal photographer, captured two frames of Guevara from the stage. The photograph — cropped to show only Guevara's face and beret — was largely overlooked for years. In 1967, after Guevara's execution in Bolivia, Italian publisher Giangiacomo Feltrinelli obtained a copy and distributed it widely, launching the image into global fame. It was adopted by student protesters during the upheavals of 1968 across Europe and Latin America. Today it is printed on t-shirts, posters, murals, and merchandise worldwide and has been called the most reproduced photograph in history. Korda never received royalties and believed in the image's revolutionary mission. He sued a vodka company in 2000 for using the image without permission and donated the settlement to the Cuban health system.
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